Thank you for visiting Friends of Denver Parks!

We are a non-profit Colorado corporation organized for the specific purpose of protecting Denver parks and designated Natural Areas. Our first challenge is to save 10.7 acres of Hampden Heights North Park, located at S. Havana St. and East Girard Ave. This beautiful park land is part of a 90 acre natural area which includes Hampden Heights North Park and Paul Hentzell Park.

The City Charter says that no park land can be sold or transferred without a vote of the people. On April 1, 2013 our mayor and city council voted to trade this priceless land for an office building downtown.

The Natural Area borders the banks of Cherry Creek. It includes an Historic Trail. It was formerly used as a Native American hunting ground for bison and deer. Motor vehicles are not allowed. The natural area is home to numerous and fascinating indigenous species of plant and animal life, including deer, fox, coyote, skunk, raccoon, muskrat, prairie dogs, beaver, hummingbirds, chickadees, robins, sparrows, finches, blackbirds, magpies, crows, woodpeckers, flickers, other small birds, butterflies, caterpillars, ant colonies, roly poly bugs, insects, crawdads, minnows, ducks, geese, heron, owls, and hawks, all of which are seen, heard and enjoyed on a regular basis by citizens of Denver and their children who walk and play and bicycle in the natural area. Our mascot baby owl was born this year in a cottonwood tree in the natural area.

Our volunteers are circulating petitions so that voters can decide in November whether this natural area should be protected from development. We need 6500 signatures by June 30 to be on the November ballot. If you have not signed a petition, or you want to circulate a petition, please call our president Renee Lewis at 303-337-2947 (home) or 970-331-6641 (mobile).

Our second challenge will be to defeat the city in the courts. The bad boys in the city attorney’s office are trying to get a judge to order that the citizens of Denver have no say on this issue. The city has the money and power, but we have legal precedent and the will of the people on our side.

Our position is based on two established principles of Colorado law. The first principle is that our government owns park land as trustees in trust for the benefit of the people. The second principle is that no park land may be sold or transferred without a vote of the people.

In addition to volunteering, you can help by becoming an Honorary Member of Friends of Denver Parks. Dues are $25 for individual members, and $50 and up for businesses, who will have a link to this website to market their business.

Thank you for standing tall to defend our parks, and our right to govern ourselves.